This was our first trip to Club Med and we were SO impressed that we are definitely going back to either Ixtapa or another Club Med resort. We have an 11 month old daughter and Baby Club was the selling point for us to vacation at Club Med. Our expectations were very high of the resort after reading all the reviews on this site. All of these expectations were met and exceeded by the amazing staff at Club Med. The entire experience, from booking the trip on the phone to checking out on the 7th day of our visit, was an amazing vacation for our family. The food was fantastic, the staff was very friendly, professional, welcoming, the hotel is great, the beach is very nice, the events were enjoyable to participate in. The "have a taste of everything" theme is so true as once we dropped our daughter off to Baby Club, we could either lay out on the beach or swim in the ocean or one of the two pools, or go to many different fitness classes, or try out the kayak or sailing (Jo and Sarah were so great), or hang out by the pool bar, or try archery or tennis or... the list goes on. If fact, if you wanted, you could just go from one activity to another and not spend much time on the beach :).

The best part of it all was the the occupancy rate was so low that we had the place to ourselves. My husband keeps saying that he had a "private coach" (Jeremy - the fitness guru) in the fitness class as there were so few people showing up to the class.

The food is AWESOME! Fresh seafood everyday and the level of cooking is nothing but gourmet. The view from the restaurants terrace is fantastic. You'll be overlooking a beautiful bay with two uninhabited rocky islands in the distance and a larger island with a sandy beach with sunset views to die for.

Finally, the staff of this place is fantastic. The whole concept of Club Med GOs (Gentle Organizers) is to mix with guests at breakfasts, lunches, and dinners and throughout the day that you feel very welcome. Jo was the fist GO we met and the first thing she did was to offer to stay with the baby while we went and got our food. It was like that everyday for the next seven days. Next time we are staying longer.

We strongly recommend Club Med Ixtapa to anyone who has young children and wants to have a real vacation! Go in low season to enjoy the place to yourself. We're definitely going back

This place has just gone through a $25 million USD upgrade, and it shows. The drab public spaces have been spruced up. There are new bars and a new restaurant. The plastic lounge chairs now have pads, and there are canopy beds for comfort and shade at the main pool and along the beach. The rooms are now equal to a good hotel room, instead of being drab monastery cells. They also seem better sound proofed than before. The food is even better than it was with multiple choices. For breakfast there is an egg station and an omelette station that cook to order. Make use of the abundant exercise opportunities or you won't fit into your clothes by the time you leave. The people who work there, known as g.o.s are friendly and hard working. They go out of their way to help you.

The beach and public areas of the club were very clean.

I only gave it 4 stars because of some glitches -- none of which should deter your visit, but which should be remedied. It took over an hour from my arrival to get a room because of some mix-up -- even though the place was only 1/2 full. It took even longer to get my luggage delivered, and still longer until someone could open the safe so that I could program it. My room was a good hike from the central area. The front door stuck several times, either because of the humidity or poor engineering. The toilet seat was somehow bolted at a slight angle to the toilet bowl. The card key didn't work after I left it in the pocket of my swim trunks and it got wet. This happened to several people. Because my room was at the end of the club, this caused me to have to walk the length of the club to get it fixed. It should be apparent that in a club med, card keys will get wet. The beds were very hard, which was fine with me, but others I spoke to were not getting much sleep because they preferred softer mattresses. The rooms have a flat-screen t.v., but oddly, since most of the guests were English speaking Americans and Canadians, only two of the channels were in English. (Someone please explain to me why a Simpson's cartoon dubbed into Spanish would also have Spanish subtitles.) In this day of satellite tv, you'd think they could put more English channels on (even though you likely wouldn't spend that much time watching tv.)

Check-out time is 11 a.m., and luggage must be packed by 10:30 and out of the room. My flight out did not leave until 5 p.m., which left me hours to hang around the club without the comfort of a room. (There is a room you can change and shower in by the reception area, and also lockers for small packs, though not luggage.) One could buy a few extra hours at $10 per hour, but why? The club was half-empty and they didn't need the room right then. It essentially kills a day, and, after it took more than an hour to get my room on arrival, paying extra to leave late did not sit well with me.

Wow! My expectation level for Club Med Ixtapa was very high after reading up on it, so I was prepared to be let down. I'm happy to report that I couldn't have been more wrong -- was as good or better than we'd hoped in every area.

Traveled with wife, 8-year-old daughter, and 5-month-old daughter. We got the round trip transfers from the airport which were great -- nice clean air-conditioned bus whisked you from airport to resort. Knew we were in for something special as we arrived to a lobby full of GOs, fresh drinks, and cool towels. Kat, one of our favorite GOs, immediately took charge, gave us the orientation and walked us to our room. Room was *beautiful* -- nice suite, very clean, comfortable beds, great shower, flat panel TVs, crib and baby welcome stuff all set out, bottled water and soda in fridge -- couldn't have been better. Counted 16 iguanas prowling around the grounds which our daughter loved.

Things only improved from there. Got the Baby Club Med package which was worth every penny. Spotlessly clean nursery with all the latest swings, toys, bouncers, etc. Analisa and Patricia, two stellar GOs at the Baby Club Med, immediately latched on to our daughter and more or less wouldn't let her go. Baby was always clean, well fed, and happy. More than once as we were lying on the beach did we see a parade of baby strollers out and about as the Baby Club GOs took the kids for walks; baby was happy as a clam.

Our 8-year old was hesitant to go to camp because there were so few people there, but when she found a few girls her age they instantly became BFFs and then she went to camp happily. She did circus camp, learned to trapeze, and participated in all the shows (Jungle show, Hip Hop Kids, talent show). When she wasn't in camp, she was either in the pool or on the beach body surfing -- warm water and just enough surf to be fun but not scary.

Mom and I spent a lot of time lying around, drinking great drinks (tequila sunrises with fresh OJ, good mojitos, iced coffee), and swimming. Lounge chairs and "cabanas" around the pool and on the beach were great -- clean and comfortable and lots available. Kayaking was fun, water aerobics, too many things to list - the 7 days flew by.

Food was very good, as others have reported -- lots of variety that made eating in the same restaurant for 7 days in a row bearable. The Huevos Rancheros station in the morning was to die for. And while at first it was a little weird to have the GOs ask to eat with you, once we got into the swing of things it was great -- met lots of wonderful people.

We took a cab in to Zihautenjo one day to shop which was nice, and we did the Delfiniti dolphin adventure. After the dolphin swim our daughter said, "this is the best day of my life" -- that made the vacation for me.

Cons? Hard to find many... Theater was sweltering hot; better fans or something required. Luna Azul restaurant was a nice change of pace, but food was just OK. Jean Marc, the general manager, ran a great operation and was very attentive, but he needs to talk less following the shows. And we ran into one sort of snarky GO at the front desk. Otherwise, service was unbelievable.

Looking at the checking account to try to figure out when we can go back. Thanks to Kat, Cesar, Hugo, Analisa, Patricia, Jeff and all the GOs for such a memorable experience. Vacation of a lifetime!!

It has been approximately three weeks since my stay at this resort. I came down with symptoms of fatigue and nausea. Come to find out, after seeing my physician and having to wait for blood work results (amongst other tings) I have learned that I contracted Hepatitis A which come to find out is transferred through fecal/oral contact. I will never return to this resort and feel it is very unfortunate since we spent so much money to try out a "Club Med" resort.